Today was the Bill Jinks memorial road race, 10 laps of a very rolling 10 km circuit finishing 200 m after the toughest hill. I had done the 3/4 race last year so I knew the course very well.
I was riding today with 2 "teammates" (not officially the same team) and this made a huge difference. You may recognise my teammates names as Jack O'Neill and Matt Clinton (former national hill climb champion) so I was in good company.
The race was hard but I was feeling good and just marking moves and sticking at the front for the first 3 or so laps. I had a couple of small digs but never lay down the gauntlet.
After 5 laps a large break of 8 or so riders got away. This was obviously a worry so Matt got on the front at the base of the climb with Jack in second and me in 4th wheel. As we got over the top Jack went to bridge, naturally I followed and buried myself to get across, I was knackered when I got there and unfortunately the bunch caught us within 5 minutes. This was my biggest error of the day and I burnt a match for no gain.
The next lap was calm and I knew it was about to kick off, I told Jack this and so we got to the front ready. But nothing really happened, the pace just kept steady and no one was willing to work.
With 3 laps to go Matt and a very strong rider got away. I saw it go and knee it was the move. I was top 10 riders with Jack just in front. I shouted to him "if you go I'm with you". 5 seconds later he went and I followed. He went hard and I pulled a turn before he went again. I had to knock it off a little bit but caught them at my own pace just behind Jack.
At this point I was knackered so took a minute or so recover while Matt and the other rider worked. I also knew that this was all or nothing, we had 4 very strong riders and it was my ideal situation.
We ploughed on, I did short turns and just tucked in. Soon a motor bike pulled up shouting "27 seconds". We got that gap quickly enough for me to realise it was sticking. Next gap was 37 seconds. After another 10km or so 3 riders bridged to us. They were clearly strong and I'd seen them all earlier attacking. I was feeling awful at this point so rode smart and did few turns mainly sitting at the back.
Next gap was 57 seconds and it was sealed. From then on I basically did no turns and just sat in. Thinking to myself just get to the end. The gap rose to 1.13 with me tucking in so I stuck at the back saving energy. Jack did the same,the guys were strong enough and Matt was burying himself. He even blew up and told us to go on. The last lap cooled down a bit, Matt kept the pace while I remained tucked in.
When we came to the final hill I just kept with the guys to the top before giving it everything and cramping up over the top and rolling in 6th place. I had nothing left, same as Matt hence him coming 7th. Jack was 2nd! Not quite a win but a fantastic result.
It was a quality race today and panned out almost perfectly. It was really good having proper riders I could rely on and I must give a massive Kudos to Matt for all the work he did. He smashed it!
I was riding today with 2 "teammates" (not officially the same team) and this made a huge difference. You may recognise my teammates names as Jack O'Neill and Matt Clinton (former national hill climb champion) so I was in good company.
The race was hard but I was feeling good and just marking moves and sticking at the front for the first 3 or so laps. I had a couple of small digs but never lay down the gauntlet.
After 5 laps a large break of 8 or so riders got away. This was obviously a worry so Matt got on the front at the base of the climb with Jack in second and me in 4th wheel. As we got over the top Jack went to bridge, naturally I followed and buried myself to get across, I was knackered when I got there and unfortunately the bunch caught us within 5 minutes. This was my biggest error of the day and I burnt a match for no gain.
The next lap was calm and I knew it was about to kick off, I told Jack this and so we got to the front ready. But nothing really happened, the pace just kept steady and no one was willing to work.
With 3 laps to go Matt and a very strong rider got away. I saw it go and knee it was the move. I was top 10 riders with Jack just in front. I shouted to him "if you go I'm with you". 5 seconds later he went and I followed. He went hard and I pulled a turn before he went again. I had to knock it off a little bit but caught them at my own pace just behind Jack.
At this point I was knackered so took a minute or so recover while Matt and the other rider worked. I also knew that this was all or nothing, we had 4 very strong riders and it was my ideal situation.
We ploughed on, I did short turns and just tucked in. Soon a motor bike pulled up shouting "27 seconds". We got that gap quickly enough for me to realise it was sticking. Next gap was 37 seconds. After another 10km or so 3 riders bridged to us. They were clearly strong and I'd seen them all earlier attacking. I was feeling awful at this point so rode smart and did few turns mainly sitting at the back.
Next gap was 57 seconds and it was sealed. From then on I basically did no turns and just sat in. Thinking to myself just get to the end. The gap rose to 1.13 with me tucking in so I stuck at the back saving energy. Jack did the same,the guys were strong enough and Matt was burying himself. He even blew up and told us to go on. The last lap cooled down a bit, Matt kept the pace while I remained tucked in.
When we came to the final hill I just kept with the guys to the top before giving it everything and cramping up over the top and rolling in 6th place. I had nothing left, same as Matt hence him coming 7th. Jack was 2nd! Not quite a win but a fantastic result.
It was a quality race today and panned out almost perfectly. It was really good having proper riders I could rely on and I must give a massive Kudos to Matt for all the work he did. He smashed it!